Americans United - Red Masshttps://au.org/tags/red-mass
enOctober Surprise?: Assessing The New Supreme Court Term https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/october-surprise-assessing-the-new-supreme-court-term
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Will the Supreme Court wade into &#039;culture war&#039; issues this term? </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The Supreme Court begins its 2014-15 term today. The 2013-14 session was a disaster for separation of church and state, and there’s a general sense among defenders of that principle that it would be best if the high court simply avoided such cases.</p><p>The court has agreed to accept two religious freedom cases that center on questions of individual rights. One, <em>Holt v. Hobbs</em>, will be argued tomorrow. <a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/may-2014-church-state/featured/the-prisoners-dilemma">It concerns a Muslim prison inmate</a> in Arkansas who wants to grow a short beard for religious reasons. The other case, <em>Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie &amp; Fitch Stores, Inc.</em>, deals with a young Muslim woman who was <a href="http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/10/02/supreme_court_to_rule_on_religious_bias_in_abercrombie_fitchhijab_case.html">denied a job</a> at an Abercrombie &amp; Fitch store because she wore a head scarf.</p><p>Unlike the <em>Hobby Lobby</em> case from last term, these legal challenges focus on individuals seeking a religious accommodation that does not affect third parties. In <em>Holt v. Hobbs</em>, Americans United has no problem supporting the inmate because allowing him to grow a half-inch beard doesn’t affect anyone else’s rights. (Before you say it might present a danger to a correctional officer, get a ruler and look at half of an inch. There is no way anyone could hide a homemade weapon in a beard that short. Plus, inmates at this prison are allowed to have long hair. If they want to hide something, they’ll do it on the top of their heads, not the bottom.)</p><p>AU filed a <a href="https://au.org/files/pdf_documents/14-5-29_Holt-Hobbs-AU_Amicus.pdf">friend-of-the-court brief</a> in the case urging the court to adopt a standard for religious-freedom cases that more seriously examines the possible damage done to third parties. Potentially millions of women could lose access to birth control thanks to the <em>Hobby Lobby</em> ruling. The court should not be blind to this fact.</p><p>There is a sense among many court watchers that another shoe is going to drop. Many observers, for example, believed the court would take up the issue of marriage equality this term. Several states have asked the court to hear the matter, but this morning the court <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/10/todays-orders-same-sex-marriage-petitins-denied/">turned them all down</a>.</p><p>Generally speaking, the court is much more likely to take up an issue when there is a split among lower federal appeals courts. That has not happened yet with marriage equality. Every federal appeals court that has examined the issue has ruled in favor of it. But some observers believe the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is poised to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/08/07/some-thoughts-on-the-sixth-circuit-marriage-cases/">rule against marriage equality</a>, which could put this issue back before the high court later this term.</p><p>Other “culture war” issues are looming. A number of states have passed restrictions on abortion, including Texas, where new laws have forced many abortion clinics in the state <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/10/fifth-circuit-allows-more-limits-on-abortion-in-texas/">to close</a>. The court may also be confronted with more cases related to access to contraceptives. And there are always cases in the court pipeline dealing with issues related to religion in public schools.</p><p>Keep your eye on the headlines. You never know what might happen.</p><p>P.S. Yesterday was the “Red Mass” here in Washington, D.C. Officials of the Catholic Church sponsor a special religious service for judges and members of the legal community every year the Sunday before the Supreme Court returns to work. Six justices attended this year’s mass: Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Stephen G. Breyer and Elena Kagan. Although clergy have used the mass in the past to lecture the justices on hot-button issues like religion in public life, abortion, same-sex marriage and tax aid to religious schools, it appears that didn’t happen this year. Longtime Supreme Court reporter Tony Mauro of <em>Legal Times</em> <a href="http://www.nationallawjournal.com/legaltimes/id=1202672416189/Six-Justices-Attend-Annual-Red-Mass-in-DC#ixzz3FMxXDe5U">reported that the service</a> “was completely devoid of hot-button references, political or social. It focused instead on the virtues of insight, inspiration and wisdom that are enhanced by religious faith.” That’s good, but I’m still not a fan of this event.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/marriage-including-same-sex-marriage">Marriage (including same-sex Marriage)</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/legal-foundations-church-state-separation">Legal Foundations of Church-State Separation</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/supreme-court">Supreme Court</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/marriage-equality">marriage equality</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/red-mass">Red Mass</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-mauro">Tony Mauro</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/islam">Islam</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/abercrombie-fitch">Abercrombie &amp; Fitch</a></span></div></div>Mon, 06 Oct 2014 14:57:13 +0000Rob Boston10574 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/october-surprise-assessing-the-new-supreme-court-term#commentsCritical Mass: D.C. Archdiocese Sponsors Special Religious Service For Judges And Government Officials https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/critical-mass-dc-archdiocese-sponsors-special-religious-service-for-judges
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Is the Red Mass becoming less political? </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Yesterday was the Red Mass, an annual event for members of the legal profession sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., and the John Carroll Society. The archdiocese and the Society always hold the event on the Sunday before the first Monday in October, which is when the Supreme Court goes back in session.</p><p>In years past, Catholic bishops have used the mass as an opportunity to harangue judges, legislators and government officials about the church’s view on issues such as abortion, marriage and even government aid to religious schools. The event annoys a lot of us in the church-state separation community because no other group, religious or secular, has such an opportunity to lobby the Supreme Court.</p><p>If this were any other group, I suspect there would be an outcry. But because the event is pitched as a religious service, it largely gets a pass.</p><p>Some reporters are paying attention. Tony Mauro, a writer for <em>Legal Times</em>, attends the mass every year. <a href="http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2013/10/a-plea-for-civility-at-annual-red-mass-in-dc.html">Mauro reported</a> that five high court justices attended yesterday’s event – Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Stephen G. Breyer and Elena Kagan.</p><p>Dallas Bishop Kevin Farrell delivered the homily. Mauro reported that Farrell issued a plea for unity and civility; he called on political leaders to rise above the partisan bickering that has sparked a shutdown of the federal government.</p><p><em>The Washington Times</em> <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/6/at-cathedrals-red-mass-bishop-warns-of-petty-parti/?page=1#ixzz2h2Sl0YTG">reported</a> that Farrell told a standing-room-only crowd, “Today we are more like Babel than Pentecost, we are more about confusion than wisdom, more separate in and by rhetoric than united. We may disagree. But there can be no place for derision or smugness. When we respect differences of opinion in dialogue, we respect and revere the differences that provide variety and give texture to this great country of ours.”</p><p>As Mauro pointed out, “Bishop Farrell made no mention of either abortion or church-state relations on Sunday, focusing instead on the need for civility and respect in public dialogue.”</p><p>But he went on to add, “In the 1980s and 1990s, homilists sometimes made more pointed anti-abortion remarks that seemed aimed at the captive audience of justices in attendance. In <em>Stars of David</em>, a 2005 book by Abigail Pogrebin, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said of the Red Mass, ‘I went one year and I will never go again, because this sermon was outrageously anti-abortion. Even the Scalias – although they’re very much of that persuasion – were embarrassed for me.’”</p><p>I’m glad to see the Red Mass was less partisan this year – but I wonder if that trend will last. The question is especially compelling considering some recent statements by Pope Francis. The pope recently made headlines by expressing his desire for a church that is less obsessed with issues like abortion and gay rights.</p><p>The pope’s comments sent shockwaves through the worldwide Catholic community, and he was quick to clarify that the church continues to oppose legal abortion.</p><p>A few days ago, the pope gave another interview that made less of a splash but that also contains some interesting comments. In a <a href="http://www.repubblica.it/cultura/2013/10/01/news/pope_s_conversation_with_scalfari_english-67643118/?ref=HREA-1">wide-ranging discussion</a> with Eugenio Scalfari, editor of an Italian newspaper called <em>La Repubblica</em>, Francis, when asked about the role of politics in the church replied, “Why do you ask? I have already said that the church will not deal with politics.”</p><p>The pope went on to add, “I say that politics is the most important of the civil activities and has its own field of action, which is not that of religion. Political institutions are secular by definition and operate in independent spheres. All my predecessors have said the same thing, for many years at least, albeit with different accents. I believe that Catholics involved in politics carry the values of their religion within them but have the mature awareness and expertise to implement them. The church will never go beyond its task of expressing and disseminating its values, at least as long as I'm here.”</p><p>Much skepticism has been expressed about these comments, in light of the church’s long involvement in politics here and abroad. But if Pope Francis is serious about forging a church that is more inclusive and less political, an excellent first step would be to shut down the Red Mass.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/lobbying-by-churches-and-religious-groups">Lobbying by Churches and Religious Groups</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/other-issues-regarding-churches-and-politics">Other Issues regarding Churches and Politics</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/red-mass">Red Mass</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/archdiocese-of-washington">Archdiocese of Washington</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-carroll-society">John Carroll Society</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bishop-kevin-farrell">Bishop Kevin Farrell</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tony-mauro">Tony Mauro</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/pope-francis">Pope Francis</a></span></div></div>Mon, 07 Oct 2013 14:12:21 +0000Rob Boston9040 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/critical-mass-dc-archdiocese-sponsors-special-religious-service-for-judges#commentsMass Mess: Bishops Use Church Service To Lobby Supreme Court https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/mass-mess-bishops-use-church-service-to-lobby-supreme-court
<a href="/about/people/simon-brown">Simon Brown</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">It’s a shame that the justices allow the bishops to play their lobbying game by attending the mass.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court tied a record last week but that’s not something they should be proud of.</p><p>On Sept. 30, six members of the high court attended the annual “Red Mass,” a special church service for the legal profession held by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.</p><p>In attendance at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle were Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Anthony M. Kennedy and Elena Kagan. Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas are Catholic; Breyer and Kagan are Jewish.</p><p>CNN reported that the high court’s showing last week <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/30/politics/fea-scotus-red-mass/index.html">tied the attendance record for justices at the mass</a>, set in 2009.</p><p>The service, which is named because of the red vestments worn by the officiants, is held annually on the Sunday before the Supreme Court begins its new term, which is the first Monday in October. <a href="http://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/red-mass-mandate-archbishop-advises-high-court-justices-about-religion-and">In previous years</a>, prelates have used the occasion to berate the justices on issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and public funding of religious schools.</p><p>(It’s worth noting that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is Jewish, stopped attending the mass because of comments made one year that were strongly anti-abortion.)</p><p>This year, the mass was led by Timothy P. Broglio, archbishop for the military services. He stopped short of making direct references to controversial topics like abortion, but he did call on attendees to use their faith to guide their decisions. </p><p>Broglio said people should be “instruments” of a “new evangelization.” </p><p>“The faith we hold in our hearts must motivate the decisions, the words, and the commitment of our everyday existence,” Broglio said. “That existence is extraordinary, because it is infused with divine grace. St. Thomas More said that he died the good servant of the King, but the faithful servant of God first. We, too, are faithful citizens only when we embrace the fullness of the principles of our faith and allow them to enliven and fortify our contributions to the life of the nation.”</p><p>No judges, least of all those on the Supreme Court, should be making decisions based on their personal faith. They should be basing them on the Constitution and sound, legal reasoning.</p><p>Americans United Executive Director Barry W. Lynn told CNN that the mass gives the Catholic hierarchy unparalleled access to the justices, and that’s simply inappropriate.</p><p>“There is one purpose to have this,” Lynn said. “It is to make clear…just what the church hierarchy feels about some of the very issues that are to come before the court. That is just wrong. And it is wrong for members to go – not illegal – but wrong for the archdiocese to promote and encourage this event.”</p><p>It may not be illegal for the justices to attend the Red Mass, but that doesn’t mean they should. The Catholic hierarchy is always trying to influence laws and public policy in the United States, and this is just another way for them to do that. It’s a shame that the justices allow the bishops to play their lobbying game by attending the mass.</p><p>We can only hope that next year none of the justices will attend the mass, which would be a record they can boast about.</p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/lobbying-by-churches-and-religious-groups">Lobbying by Churches and Religious Groups</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/other-issues-regarding-churches-and-politics">Other Issues regarding Churches and Politics</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/ruth-bader-ginsburg">Ruth Bader Ginsburg</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/red-mass">Red Mass</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/antonin-scalia">Antonin Scalia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/elana-kagan">Elana Kagan</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-g-roberts">John G. Roberts</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/stephen-breyer">Stephen Breyer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/clarence-thomas">Clarence Thomas</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/timothy-p-broglio">Timothy P. Broglio</a></span></div></div>Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:26:12 +0000Simon Brown7609 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/mass-mess-bishops-use-church-service-to-lobby-supreme-court#commentsRed Mass Mandate: Archbishop Advises High Court Justices About Religion And Government https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/red-mass-mandate-archbishop-advises-high-court-justices-about-religion-and
<a href="/about/people/bathija">Sandhya Bathija</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The fact that the mass goes on almost every year just as the high court is coming back in session is no coincidence.</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Yesterday morning, I attended the Red Mass here in Washington along with five Supreme Court justices and Vice President Joe Biden. Okay, we weren’t in the same pew – they were in the front rows; I wasn’t.</p>
<p>But all of us heard Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, an American who now works at the Vatican, give a homily that instructed those in attendance on how they should feel about same-sex marriage, abortion and the dire threat of “humanism.”</p>
<p>This was my third visit to the Red Mass, which for more than 50 years has been held just before the Supreme Court comes back into session in October. In the past, the Sunday service at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle has <a href="http://blog.au.org/2009/10/05/critical-mass-justices-gather-in-dc-for-special-religious-service/">provided a rich opportunity</a> for the Catholic hierarchy to lobby the justices on controversial issues, and this year was no exception.</p>
<p>Di Noia, a Dominican theologian who now serves as secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, has been outspoken about these issues before. In a December 2009 <a href="http://www.adoremus.org/1209EucharisticAdoration.html">essay for the <em>Adoremus Bulletin</em></a>, for example, he blasted “the emergence of an ideology of evil” that “inspires certain political leaders and even some democratic parliaments to initiate projects that are contrary to the identity and mission of the family, and, what is worse, contrary to the dignity of human life itself.” (That’s church-speak for opposition to abortion rights, civil marriage for same-sex couples and other policies that transgress Catholic doctrine.)</p>
<p>Di Noia also has a warm relationship with the Religious Right. In 1994, he joined with Chuck Colson, Richard Land, Pat Robertson and others in signing “Evangelicals and Catholics Together.” That document was intended to paper over long-standing theological differences between conservative Protestants and Catholics and pave the way for common cause on political projects undermining church-state separation, reproductive choice and gay rights and advancing voucher aid to religious schools and more religion in public schools.</p>
<p>That’s why it didn’t come as much of a surprise that Di Noia would use his opportunity at the Red Mass pulpit to nudge his powerful congregants toward the church’s official position on abortion, gay rights and the place of religion in establishing government policy. After all, he had an audience that included Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas.</p>
<p>“Positive law,” he said, “rests on certain principles the knowledge of which constitutes nothing less than participation in the divine law itself: the pursuit of the common good through respect for the natural law, the dignity of the human person, the inviolability of innocent life from conception to natural death, the sanctity of marriage, justice for the poor, protection of minors, and so on.</p>
<p>Later, he argued that “the democratic state does not so much <em>confer</em> the most fundamental human rights and the duties of citizenship as <em>acknowledge</em> their existence and source in a power beyond the state, namely in God himself.”</p>
<p>Di Noia claimed that democratic societies are in danger of adopting the view that “man can find happiness and freedom only apart from God.”</p>
<p>“This exclusive humanism,” he said, “has been exposed as an anti-humanism of the most radical kind. Man without God is not more free but surely in greater danger,” adding that “the eclipse of God leads not to greater human liberation but to the most dire human peril. That innocent human life is now so broadly under threat has seemed to many of us one of the many signs of this growing peril.”</p>
<p>When you cut through the theological fog, DiNoia’s bottom line is this: abortion should be banned, gay people should be denied marriage rights and governmental policy should be based on religiously grounded concepts.</p>
<p>The archbishop didn’t deliver his views that bluntly because it might have caused a stir – and a political backlash. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg stopped attending the Red Mass a few years ago when a prelate blasted away against abortion rights a little too vigorously.</p>
<p>The fact that the mass goes on almost every year just as the high court is coming back in session is no coincidence. It’s apparent that the Catholic hierarchy uses this event as a way to try to direct governmental policy within the context of a worship service.</p>
<p>The U.S. Constitution separates religion and government, and the courts have the responsibility of upholding that principle. The Red Mass certainly doesn’t bolster that constitutional concept. Let’s just hope that this Supreme Court term we have justices who do.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/abortion">Abortion</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/antonin-scalia">Antonin Scalia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/archbishop-j-augustine-di-noia">Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/clarence-thomas">Clarence Thomas</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/john-roberts">John Roberts</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/red-mass">Red Mass</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religion-and-politics">Religion and politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/same-sex-marriage">same-sex marriage</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sameul-alito">Sameul Alito</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/stephen-breyer">Stephen Breyer</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/supreme-court-0">the Supreme Court</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/us-supreme-court">The U.S. Supreme Court</a></span></div></div>Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:49:10 +0000Sandhya Bathija2471 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/red-mass-mandate-archbishop-advises-high-court-justices-about-religion-and#commentsCritical Mass: Justices Gather In D.C. For Special Religious Servicehttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/critical-mass-justices-gather-in-dc-for-special-religious-service
<a href="/about/people/bathija">Sandhya Bathija</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>The U.S. Supreme Court is back in session today, which means Justice Sonia Sotomayor has taken her seat on the bench for the first time.</p>
<p>Yesterday morning was another first for the junior justice. She attended the Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle as a VIP guest.</p>
<p>Five other justices <a href="http://legaltimes.typepad.com/">sat with her</a> in front pews: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito and Stephen Breyer. All these justices, besides Breyer (who is Jewish) are Roman Catholic. The court's sixth Catholic, Clarence Thomas, was absent because he was attending a wedding.</p>
<p>In addition, Vice President Joe Biden, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and dozens of others in the legal profession <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/05/6-justices-hear-right-life-homily/">were in attendance.</a></p>
<p>This was the 56th year of the Red Mass in Washington. It's become a <a href="http://blog.au.org/2008/10/06/red-mass-goes-mild-catholic-hierarchy-lowers-lobbying-level-for-high-court-justices/">Catholic tradition</a> in our nation's capital and has often been used as an opportunity for Catholic clerics to lobby the justices and other governmental officials on issues such as abortion, gay rights, tax aid to religious schools and stem-cell research.</p>
<p>This year was no exception. I was warned to pay particular attention to the homily delivered by Archbishop Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston because he had been extremely vocal in <a href="http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/printerfriendly.html?articleid=09032717">criticizing</a> the University of Notre Dame for inviting President Barack Obama to be its commencement speaker in the spring.</p>
<p>"Though I can understand the desire by a university to have the prestige of a commencement address by the President of the United States," DiNardo told the <em>Texas Catholic Herald</em> in March, "the fundamental moral issue of the inestimable worth of the human person from conception to natural death is a principle that soaks all our lives as Catholics, and all our efforts at formation, especially education at Catholic places of higher learning."</p>
<p>So it wasn't shocking to me that amidst the Cardinals' homily inundated with references to scripture, he snuck in a line about protecting the unborn during Sunday's mass.</p>
<p>"There are always smoldering wicks and bruised reeds needing our human attention," he said, specifically addressing the lawyers. "The many smoldering wicks are our 'clients' but more than clients. They are the poor and wealthy, confused and lucid, polite and impolite. In some cases the clients are voiceless for they lack influence; in others they are literally voiceless, not yet with tongues and even without names. They too require our most careful attention and radical support."</p>
<p>What was even more troubling than this blatant anti-abortion pitch to the justices was the cardinal's instruction that members of the legal profession should rely on a "divine fire from the Lord" in their professional lives, not just their personal ones.</p>
<p>"The Word of God has taken an initiative in speaking and the response is certainly to hear and understand," DiNardo said. "This contemplative dimension, however, also leads to obedience, an obedience of Faith. Graced in this manner, we respond in our personal lives of faith and witness and in our professional lives too, not only for the good of our souls but also for the sake of our professions that must show God's justice in the world."</p>
<p>The cardinal ended his message to the justices and other governmental officials, "May that voice of the Word of God touch our hearts and tongues in the judicial year that lies ahead."</p>
<p>Despite Cardinal DiNardo's claims, our justices should remember that their personal faith and beliefs should never dictate their judicial decisions.</p>
<p>For some justices, we know this may be a lost cause. But we have high hopes that Sotomayor will recognize that as a justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, she must heed the Constitution and not the Catholic Church or any other religious body.</p>
<p>We'll soon know if she agrees. The high court will hear this week its first church-state case, <em><a href="http://www.au.org/media/church-and-state/archives/2009/09/a-cross-the-court-and-the.html">Salazar v. Buono</a></em>. Stay tuned.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/churches-and-politics">Churches and Politics</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/archbishop-daniel-dinardo">Archbishop Daniel DiNardo</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/cathedral-st-matthew-apostle">Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/catholic-church">Catholic Church</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/red-mass">Red Mass</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/religion-and-politics">Religion and politics</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/sonia-sotomayor">sonia sotomayor</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/us-supreme-court">The U.S. Supreme Court</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/us-supreme-court-0">U.S. Supreme Court</a></span></div></div>Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:00:27 +0000Sandhya Bathija2393 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/critical-mass-justices-gather-in-dc-for-special-religious-service#commentsRed Mass Goes Mild: Catholic Hierarchy Lowers Lobbying Level For High Court Justices https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/red-mass-goes-mild-catholic-hierarchy-lowers-lobbying-level-for-high-court
<a href="/about/people/bathija">Sandhya Bathija</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>[caption id="attachment_1027" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Archbishop Wuerl and Cardinal Foley after the Red Mass at St. Matthew's Cathedral, Washington, D.C., October 5, 2008. Photo taken from Flickr Creative Commons by II Primo Uomo"]<a href="http://blog.au.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/cardinal-foley-outside-mass1.jpg"></a>[/caption]</p>
<p>Today is the first Monday in October—the day when the U.S. Supreme Court is back in session for a new term.</p>
<p>Yesterday was the Sunday before the first Monday in October—the day when the justices are invited to the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., to participate in the Red Mass, a Catholic tradition in the nation's capital since 1952.</p>
<p>The mass is attended by an array of Supreme Court justices, federal court judges, members of Congress, ambassadors, law school deans and professors and lawyers. Sometimes the president shows up.</p>
<p>This year, five justices attended, including Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer.</p>
<p>The Red Mass, given its name for the red vestments traditionally worn by the officiating clergy, is sponsored by the John Carroll Society and is considered by the church to be "a traditional religious observance asking God's guidance on the administration of justice, and for the Nation."</p>
<p>In reality, it often is a rich opportunity for Catholic clerics to lobby the justices and other governmental officials on such controversial issues as church-state relations, abortion, gay rights, tax aid to religious schools and stem-cell research.</p>
<p>Yesterday was my first Red Mass. I listened intently to the homily given by Cardinal John Patrick Foley, and to my surprise, he was rather mild when it came to judicial lobbying. Foley cited many passages from the Bible, and followed by saying, "So many of these citations from Scripture sound very much like American ideals. In fact, many if not most of our values come not just from our God-given human nature but from our Judeao-Christian heritage."</p>
<p>He stated that "all of us may see law as a reflection of God's loving care," and he reminded the justices to follow God's guidance in building a society "of justice, of peace and of love."</p>
<p>In the past, speakers at the Red Mass were less subtle in advocating church views and criticizing Supreme Court doctrine. (There's a detailed report, headlined "<a href="http://www.au.org/site/DocServer/Red_Mass_Dec._1990.pdf%20?docID=3201">Critical Mass</a>," in the December 1990 issue of <em>Church &amp; State</em>.)</p>
<p>At the 1989 mass, for example, then-Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua deplored the "inviolable, impenetrable, and towering wall" that had been erected between church and state. He demanded a return to "religiously based moral values."</p>
<p>Three years earlier, Cardinal James A. Hickey criticized the constitutional basis for Roe v. Wade, stating "The language claimed to protect the right of privacy has been mistakenly expanded to encompass a woman's decision to destroy the life of her child and to an unconditional right to abortion during the first trimester."</p>
<p>The cardinal's homily was delivered to a congregation that included William Rehnquist, who had just been made chief justice and was sitting in the front row, as well as Justices Scalia and William Brennan.</p>
<p>It was this type of rhetoric about sensitive issues before the court that drove Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to discontinue her attendance at the mass. In an <a href="http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=cs_&amp;page=NewsArticle&amp;id=8005">interview with Abigail Pogrebin</a>, author of <em>Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish</em>, Ginsburg spoke of her discomfort after attending a Red Mass because she did not want to be lectured by bishops on the evils of legal abortion.</p>
<p>"Before every session, there's a Red Mass," Ginsburg said. "And the justices get invitations from the cardinal to attend that. And a good number of the justices show up every year. I went one year, and I will never go again, because this sermon was outrageously anti-abortion."</p>
<p>Added Ginsburg, "Even the Scalias – although they're much of that persuasion – were embarrassed for me."</p>
<p>The Red Mass began 55 years ago at a time when Catholic bishops were angry with the Supreme Court. In 1947, the Supreme Court ruled in Everson v. Board of Education, a case that provided for clear church-state separation. Justice Hugo Black wrote, "The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable."</p>
<p>[caption id="attachment_1023" align="alignleft" width="241" caption="Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C. where the Red Mass is held annually in Washington, D.C. Photo taken from Flickr Creative Commons by NCinDC"]<a href="http://blog.au.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/outside-cathedral.jpg"></a>[/caption]</p>
<p>It's pretty clear that today there are several justices on the court who pose a threat to this constitutional interpretation. With two Bush appointees, Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, on the bench, along with Scalia and Thomas (and sometimes Kennedy), it's likely Red Mass clerics do not have to be so obvious in their pulpit statements.</p>
<p>As the new term begins, we urge the justices to remember that though they personally may heed the advice of Cardinal Foley in following God's guidance, when it comes to serving as members of the U.S. Supreme Court, they must be guided only by the U.S. Constitution.</p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/churches-and-politics">Churches and Politics</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/cardinal-john-patick-foley">Cardinal John Patick Foley</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/dc">D.C.</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/red-mass">Red Mass</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/supreme-court">Supreme Court</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/washington-dc">Washington DC</a></span></div></div>Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:35:01 +0000Sandhya Bathija2296 at https://au.orghttps://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/red-mass-goes-mild-catholic-hierarchy-lowers-lobbying-level-for-high-court#comments